Rocket City Criterium Bike Race This Weekend

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May is National Bike Month and to help celebrate the Spring City Cycling Club will once again host the Rocket City Criterium this weekend. The second annual races will take place this Saturday and Sunday and will include the Alabama State Championship Criterium Races.

New to this year's event is the Omnium, which is a series of three races in the two days and rewards racers for their overall performance.

The Spring City Cycling Club also decided to make another change to this year's event by moving it from July to May.

"They do an annual race usually at the end of July, but we decided that May was the better time to have the bike race because it's always so hot in July you know," said race promoter Jamie Miernik.

Adaptive cycling will also be available throughout the weekend for handcyclers and paracyclers.

Proceeds from this weekend will support the Alabama Bicycle Coalition for cycling advocacy and the Ride 2 Recovery program, which is a veterans cycling support group for paracyclists.

The races start Saturday with the 1.8 mile uphill time trial at Monte Sano State Park.

The Alabama State Championship Criterium Races will take place all day in downtown Huntsville on an 0.8 mile course with six turns.

Saturday will also feature the Free Kids Rocket Races on the criterium course from 10:00 am - 11:30 am for unlicensed cyclists ages 12 and under.

On Sunday the circuit races will run from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm on a 3.1 mile circuit course looping through Research Park.

Sign-ups run through Friday evening and all ages and levels of cyclists are encouraged to register. Spectators are also more than welcome to watch this weekend's races.